Towable watersports devices used for recreational and sport purposes include a water sport device known as a kneeboard, which is used by a kneeling user and typically towed by a motor-operated watercraft. Kneeboards are manufactured by a molding process to prepare an upper and lower contoured polymeric rigid shell filled with a core floatation material like a closed cell, e.g., polyethylene or polyurethane, polymeric foam with the shells secured together to form a peripheral sealing lip.
The kneeboard usually has a contoured upper surface, and may include a depressed knee area, to fit the knees or lower legs of the user, with optional cushioning material, like foam pads, for comfort and optional knee straps to restrain a user may also be used.
One prior art kneeboard is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,700,174, issued Dec. 23, 1997, hereby incorporated by reference. The kneeboard has an upper and lower shell with a lip about a foam core material and has an upper contoured passenger riding area. The kneeboard includes means for strengthening the kneeboard by constructing and arranging the hull and deck with a lip, and wherein the thickness between the dorsal surface of the lip and ventral surface of the lip is less than the average thickness of the shell measured between the dorsal portion of the passenger contact area and the ventral surface of the hull. The kneeboard is also strengthened by combining and integrating a first and second lateral support member, a middle lateral support member and a transverse support member which form contours in the passenger area.
It is desirable to provide an improved kneeboard which avoids the disadvantages of prior art kneeboards and presents a low profile contour, and is internally strengthened without the need for lateral support members, and yet provides good performance, maneuverability and stability properties, and ease and efficiency of manufacture.